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Municipalist Dialogues in Berlin

Municipalist Dialogues in Berlin

Arbeitskreis Munizipalismus Berlin (Munis Berlin)

Proposal abstract

We belive that, given the characteristics of the political and social context, there is a potential for building a wide municipalist movement in Berlin. Our group is keen on working more on the idea of a citizen-led influence on the politics of the city.
At the same time, the lack of time of most of the members and the thorough work that setting a proper dialogue among groups requires, brings us to the need for some facilitation and secretariat work. At this moment, we think that having someone who could do the organizational tasks would make possible the political work, and would allow the group to move on as we would like.
We want to gather different groups and together with them organize meetings to get aligned and discuss how and under which conditions we would see this getting-together process happen.

Who we are

We are a group of people from different movements, projects and parties who are interested in municipalism. We have been meeting for 2 years to discuss how we could imagine creating a citizen-led municipalist force in Berlin. In our project, we would like to collaborate with other members of the EMN as well as the EMN itself. We would like to get inspiration and advice on how to create a process to create a space of collaboration where Berliner organizations and people could think together and define common goals. We organize debates and talks, and write public statments about imporant political moments for the city; on top, we all are commited to bring the idea of setting up a municipalist platform in Berlin into the internal debates of each of our movements, unions, NGOs, parties, etc.

What we want to do and how we will do it

We will organize six meetings where we will invite people from different organizations to discuss how we could increase our influence in the Berliner political scene, and which conditions we all would need for doing that together. The goal of these meetings would be to go deeper into some aspects of how we could imagine creating a citizen-led municipalist force in Berlin. The topics we would like to discuss are: Principles and functioning / Analysis and Narrative / Aims and objectives / Movements and parties / Process and calendar / Logistics and Finances. As the process has an essential role in this project, for each of the meetings, we will invite a big and diverse number of initiatives and people, with who we would like to prepare the sessions. At the same time, we would like to count on some inspiring examples from the EMN members as an input for the discussions. Desired outcome 1: align vision, outline strategy, create snowball effect. Desired outcome 2: switch on ‘cooperation mode’ among groups that would lead us to define a grassroots “program” for the city.

How much money do we need and what for?

We need 3000€ for the fees for two people: 1500€ per person. The rest of the work will be done as activist time. Logistical aspects will be covered by the people of the group: rooms, calls, material, etc.

Why / How does it contribute to /reflects the municipalism principles

Berlin is a city with a high density of progressive movements and organizations. At the same time, the political position of most Berliners is not reflected in how the city is governed and has little impact on important fields such as its government or the power that civil society has. Part of the reason why this happens is the big diversity of tactics and strategies that these groups have. We believe that if we are able to create cooperation among movements, parties, NGOs, etc, we could have a strong influence in the policies, the governance and the management of the city. As an important capital, if such a grassroots colaboration would take place in Berlin, it could be an inspiring example for progressive groups in other cities and towns.

Materials

· Municipalist Dialogues in Berlin

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